JOHANNESBURG – South African coaches Neville Godwin and Jeff Coetzee are doing the country proud with their charges at the Australian Open.
Godwin and Coetzee, who were recently named by Tennis South Africa (TSA) as high performance consultant coaches can be proud as their players are through to the semi-finals and finals respectively.
Godwin, who at the end of last year ended his successful partnership with Kevin Anderson is now working with Next Gen ATP sensation Hyeon Chung of South Korea. The two were paired up by Chung’s agent, Stuart Duguid, who also ironically manages Kevin Anderson.
In their first major together, Godwin has guided the 21-year-old South Korean to a historic first-ever major semi-final where he will meet the legendary Roger Federer. Chung en route to the semi-final upset 6-time former winner, Novak Djokovic.
“It’s been a real pleasure to work with Hyeon. He is so talented and has great success and the exciting thing is - there is still so much he can improve on. Working with Hyeon has been a lot of fun,” said Godwin who was named the ATP coach of 2017.
Coetzee coaches the Colombian duo of Robert Farah and Juan Sebestian Cabal. The Colombians are seeded 11 and on Friday upset the American twin brothers Mike and Bob Brayn 7-6(1) 7-5 to reach Saturday’s final.
Coetzee has been working with Farah and Cabal for the past four years and has assisted them to 10 titles and a career high team ranking of 10th. The Colombians best-ever Grand Slam showing was reaching the semi-finals of last year's French Open
“This final was a long time coming. I am proud of my boys and the way they conducted themselves in the tournament so far. I feel like I am in the final myself, we work closely together and are a solid team.
I personally reached the semi-finals here in 2003 (with Chris Haggard) and in 2008 (with Wesley Moodie) so I feel I have gone one step ahead and now like the boys, I want to win my first Grand slam title,” said Coetzee.